A new look at Land’s End

Friday

Feb 9, 2018 at 7:00 AMFeb 9, 2018 at 9:57 AM

To prepare for my new job as the Banner’s editor, I read Michael Cunningham’s “Land’s End: A Walk in Provincetown,” which I had avoided for years. I had thought I had Provincetown down, having spent 22 years as a reporter for the Cape Cod Times. But I realized that I needed a way to circle back into Provincetown.

The book covers all the broad themes in loving detail. I’d gladly write about every one of them in my first editorial — John Dowd’s house, drag queens, the cliques of sunbathers on Herring Cove Beach, gay male dating rituals, Spiritus Pizza, the Portuguese population, Mary Heaton Vorse, cats, fishermen and the light that reflects dazzlingly off the water.

One of his themes has come to the fore after the Jan. 4 storm surge, which flooded parts of Commercial and Bradford streets. At least 28 town and private properties and eight businesses were damaged, according to Town Manager David Panagore. The federal government requires flood insurance for most properties on those streets because they are in flood zones. It’s costly and yet not comprehensive. Household goods stored in basements, for example, are not protected.

So here we are, stuck at the end of a sandbar, with most of the historic town crammed up against the bay. And, as Cunningham wrote, the right hurricane could wipe out the place.

Short-term solutions are sand bags, which seem kind of puny in the face of it all. Yet they help, and the town is rightly providing them to the public.

A longer-term tool within reach involves moving sand on the bayside beaches from areas of accretion to areas of erosion. This will create a natural barrier against storm surges, which sea level rise has made us much more vulnerable to. Town Meeting voters will be asked in April to raise $200,000 for this purpose.

I’ve come full circle now as editor of Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet’s weekly paper on the 20th anniversary of the Whaler’s Wharf fire. I covered the fire in 1998 for the Times. I happened to be right outside Whaler’s Wharf as the first engine arrived. I sat next to David Bragdon, the caretaker whose space heater caused the fire, at Adams Pharmacy as the conflagration raged. And I talked to Bragdon the day he tied weights to his ankles and jumped off Fisherman’s Pier.

That day, I could barely put my fingers on the keys to write about his death. It was so deeply sad and came after so many other depleting events — the fire, the firefighters being charged with looting, Bragdon’s first suicide attempt.

After that, I wondered if I could write another story about Whaler’s Wharf. I didn’t want to look anymore.

But 20 years later, I’m looking again. The all-volunteer fire department continues to be one of Provincetown’s most valuable assets. Whaler’s Wharf and the Crown & Anchor are centerpieces of the town’s creativity and magic.

And so this is how I know that, while global warming threatens us and we don’t yet have the answers, we are not discouraged. Many people, including those of us who work at the Banner, have a powerful commitment to Provincetown. We are serious about looking closely and honestly, and finding solutions. —K.C. Myers